Coming to China
Coming to China can be quite an adventure. Its fairly easy to come, and your sure to enjoy youself once your here. The easiest way to come to China is as a teacher, because you need basically no qualifications except a fluency in English.
If coming to China to become a teacher, you may find that life is not as hard as many other jobs in the world. You can choose many paths to take in any part of the country, from Shanghai to Beijing , and you can travel almost anywhere with much ease while making friends along the way. There are three main types of teachers in China :
• School Teaching: Within a school setting a teacher is granted many luxuries. Some schools offer free housing, some have benefits, and others offer great travel plans to list just a few. The pay is usually lower than private teaching (approximately $1000USD-$2000USD a month full-time work), but the increased job security and steady income more than make up for the loss of income in most cases.
• Private Tutoring: Private tutoring is where many people earn most of the money available to teachers. A one-on-one tutoring class can earn a teacher on average almost $20USD an hour, with higher pay for larger classes. The only downside is that there is very little job security, as you are never guaranteed students to teach.
• Part-time/Private Tutoring: This is the most preferred path many English teachers take while living in China . While working part-time at a school a teacher can also instruct many private-tutoring classes in order to supplement his or her income. This combines both the security of a school job with the higher income of private tutoring.
Whatever path you choose to take, your life will almost certainly be an easy one. The standard and cost of living in China , even in Shanghai , is much lower than most western countries, so many goods and services are easily available. For example, it is easy for any westerner to live in a comfortable, luxurious apartment overlooking the largest park in Shanghai in a quiet part of the city and have a personal maid come in every day to cook and clean your house for you, and you would still have money to go travel while only working 30 hours or less each week.
Inside teaching itself, it can be a very relaxed life from day to day.
My good friend alex writes about his life as a teacher “Each day I wake up around 11:00am and take a nice long shower before having my maid make me breakfast. While she's cooking I get dressed, watch some TV, or check the latest news on-line. Around 1:00 I leave my home for a short 20 minute trip to my office (about 10 minutes walking along a park and 10 minutes riding a clean subway, complete with plasma screen TVs). When I arrive at 1:30 I clock in, and then sit around and drink free tea or coffee until 2:40 or 3:00, whenever my first class starts. My job is then just making conversation with people for an average of five-and-a-half hours each day. Of course, I work an eight-hour day, so that's five-and-a-half hours of actual work and two-and-a-half hours of break time each day. Then around 9:30 I go home and have the rest of the night free. I only really work three days a week, and between this and a few private tutoring classes I can easily make over $1000USD a month while traveling around China at my leisure."
